Storage cabinet for ice cream and the like



March 22,1938. .w. P. CRISMAN 2,112,0 5

STORAGE CABINET FOR ICE CREAM AND THE LIKE Filed March 15, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 v WWW/WW Fi .2. A Q Q 24 v 5 s I March 22, 1938.. w. P. CRISMAN STORAGE CABINET FOR ICE CREAM AND THE LIKE Filed March 15, ,1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE William P. Crisman, Takoma Park, Md., assignor to Southern Dairies, Inc., Washington, D. 0., a corporation of Delaware Application March 15, 1937, Serial No. 131,077

15 Claims. (UL 312-185) This invention relates to cold storage cabinets and more particularly to those types of cabinets I In such cabinets ice cream and the like is kept in bulk, under refrigeration, and the cream is dipped from cans or other receptacles as customers call for it. Formerly it was customary to stock the cabinets with ice cream in five-gallon cans, but the best present practice substitutes twoand-one-half-gallon cans to provide a wider range of available flavors and kinds of ice cream and to permit emptying and replenishment of the cans at shorter intervals so that the stock on hand is always comparatively new and fresh.

The two-and-one-half-gallon cans are commonly of the same diameter and of approximately one-half the height of the five-gallon cans. Used in the same cabinets, the shorter cans are stacked two high, or the space beneath a can may be used to store packages of brick ice cream, boxes of ice cream bars, or allied loose goods which generally move more slowly, and inasmuch as the cabinets invariably have closed sides and bottoms and are provided with top openings only, it has been necessary to provide means for rendering the bottom cans or the loose goods in the lower zone of the cabinet conveniently accessible to an attendant reaching through the top opening. Unless some such special means be provided it would be necessary, in the case of a well filled cabinet, bodily to remove from the cabinet an upper can to reach a lower one or to gain access to loose goods in the bottom, and this is maulfestly inconvenient, unsanitary, time-consuming, and wasteful of refrigeration.

An object of the invention is to provide means for rendering the lower cans or goods readily accessible through the top opening.

It has been proposed to mount the upper cans on horizontally sliding carriages provided in a number equal to one less than the length of the cabinet would accommodate. Thus, a cabinet built to hold four five-gallon cans in horizontal alignment would be stocked with a lower tier of four two-and-one half-gallon cans or their equivalent in loose goods and with an upper tier of three two-and-one-half-gallon cans. Through the unoccupied space of the upper tier a single lower can or its equivalent is thus rendered accessible, and other lower' cans or their equivalent space can be uncovered and reached by the simple expedient of sliding the covering carriage and its can from over them. The cans and carriages of the upper tier can obviously be rearranged at wfll to superpose the blank space over any selected lower can or space to render such can or space quickly accessible from the cabinet opening directly above it.

This prior art construction has proved to be 5 unsatisfactory for several reasons.

In the first place it fails to provide sumciently stable support for the cans of the upper tierlit has been found in practice that the horizontally movable. carriages tend readily to move under the 10 efforts of the cabinet attendant to dip ice cream from the cans supported by them. When it is remembered that the ice cream is kept hard frozen at around 0 Fahrenheit it will be appreciated that digging thrusts of considerable force arerequired to free portions from the mass. To dip the cream evenly from the whole inner periphery of the can, these forcible digging thrusts must be made against all sides of the can interior, and when such a thrust is directed against an unsupported side of the can (in the direction of the unoccupied space in the tier) the can promptly slides'unless it is held by the free hand of the attendant. For sanitary reasons it is of course undesirable tohave the can lips touched by the 'attendants hands.

A second reason why this horizontally sliding arrangement is unsatisfactory is the fact that the cans on the freely slidable carriages are seldom found aligned, when the attendant removes a cabinet cover, with the openings directly beneath which they are supposed to be positioned. This results from the tendency of the cans to bounce back after being slid into impact with the cabinet end or with another can. It thus frequently happens that the cans of the upper tier are quite evenly spaced apart, none of them being directly under a cabinet opening, so that special realigning by movement of the canals required practically every time access to any can is desired.

an additional difficulty encountered in the operation" of this prior art construction results from the unexpected and capricious binding of the support rollers at times consequent upon the condensation and freezing of moisture in the bearings' Thus, a can will at times require consideraple force to move it, or it may be very easily movable. Because the operator cannot guess what degree of force will be required he invariably gives the can a sharp blow of the hand and if the rollers happen not to be frozen the can is set in violent motion and may oscillate through several periods in its allowable range of movement before finally coming to rest, "bouncing back" from the adjacent can or cabinet end wall F and ultimately distorting the cans and the cabinet. Its final point of rest is seldom directly beneath a cabinet opening and the blank, space in the upper tier is correspondingly seldom directly above a can or storage space of the lower tier. The inconvenience of such operation is manifest.

Furthermore, the sliding support construction requires the trackways for the support rollers to be 'very securely fixed to the cabinet walls. It is practically impossible to perform the necessary bolting or riveting operations in a completed cabinet. Hence the sliding support construction cannot be installed in already built cabinets.

Objects of the present invention are to overcome and eliminate all the foregoing disadvantages of the sliding support constructions; i. e., to provide a construction in which the movable cans are stably supported against undesired movement regardless of the direction of digging thrusts at the hard frozen contents; in which the movable cans are always necessarily positioned at precisely one end or another of their allowable range of movement, so that the upper cans and the blank space are always aligned with the top openings and with the lower cans or spaces; in which the binding effect of frozen condensation in the moving parts is reduced to a negligible minimum; and which can be readily installed in and removed from cabinets already built.

Further objects are to provide an arrangement having lower construction and maintenance costs, which will be more rugged and durable, which will be mechanically more simple and foolproof,

and which will be more efficient and dependable in discharging its intended functions.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, I have shown in the accompanying drawings, and will describe hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention which is at present preferred by me since the samehas been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results.

shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of a cabinet illustrating a step in the installation of a device made in accordance with a particular embodiment of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the reference nu-v meral I designates generally a cold storage cabinet of. familiar form and widespread use in retail outlets for ice cream and the like. The cabinet construction is old per se and consists of an insulated box having closed sides, ends and bottom, top openings 2 closed by lids 3, and a coil or other refrigerating means 4 positioned in heat exchange relationwith the cabinet interior, as by being built into the cabinet walls. The

. illustrated cabinet is of approximately twenty gallons capacity, being capable of accommodating four five-gallon cans or eight two-and-onehalf-gallon cans or the equivalent thereof. Four top openings are provided, each aligned with one of the five-gallon cans or the equivalent space. As I have explained, in the preferred present day use of these cabinets half size cans stacked two high are substituted for the full size cans formerly used. According to the present invention asmany as seven two-and-one-half-gallon cans may be used in lieu of the four five-gallon cans, or one or more of the cans of the lower tier may be omitted and the space thereby made available may. be used to accommodate loose goods such as brick ice cream packages, frozen confections or the like. In the drawings the cans are designated 5, and a space for loose goods is designated 6. In the illustrated example, seven rather than eight half size cans or their equivalents are used because the cans of the upper tier are intended to be moved to provide access to the cans or space in the lower tier, and to accommodate such movement a blank or unoccupied space equal to the volume ofone can must be provided in the upper tier. This unoccupied space is designated I in the drawings.

To support the cans of the upper tier a series of trays or equivalent means 8, one for each can of the upper tier, is provided. Each of these supports, three in number in the illustrated embodiment, is mounted on means permitting the support to be swung longitudinally of the cabinet from a position directly above one of the lower cans to a position directly above the next adjacent lower can, and the character of the mounting means is such that the path of movement of the support is arcuate, with the low points of the path at its ends and the high point substantially midway between the ends. In the illustrated embodiment the mounting comprises legs 9, each having its upper end pivoted at I II to a support and its lower end pivoted at Ii to a member II, or to the side flange l3 of such a member, which occupies a relatively fixed position on the cabinet floor. The member it, as best shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, may consist of a central web I! having upturned side flanges i3 and may be regarded as a sort of false bottom for the cabinet. It is rendered relatively immovable in the cabinet by snugly fitting from end to end and/or from side to side of the cabinet, by abutting fixed elements in the cabinet, or otherwise. The distance between its side flanges is approximately equal to the width of the supports 8, so that the legs 9 lie in substantially vertical planes. Obviously, the pivotal mounting of the legs permits the supports to be swung longitudinally of the cabinet from left to right or right to left as seen in Fig. 2, from a canting of the legs toward one end of the cabinet to a canting in the opposite direction. Obviously also, the path of support movement is arcuate with its low points at the ends of the path when the legs are canted and its high point intermediate the ends of the path when the legs are vertical. It will be appreciated that the supports will tend to gravitate towardsthe ends of their paths of movement until stopped, and, as will be observed from Fig. 2, such stoppage occurs when a support abuts an adjacent support or an end wall of the cabinet.

In use, therefore, the supports with the upper cans on them are swung as has been described whenever it is necessary to reach a covered can or space of the lower tier. In their positions of rest, which are of necessity at the extreme ends of their paths of movement and hence in direct alignment with one or another of the top openings'2, the supports and the cans on them are very stable because movement in one direction is prevented by the abutting support or cabinet end wall and movement in the other direction is resisted by gravity. Consequently hard frozen ice cream or the like may be dug from the cans by forcible thrusts in any direction and the cans will not accidentally move. Inasmuch as the only rubbing of moving parts occurs in the pivots and their bearings where the mechanical advantage is of a very high order, frozen condensation at these points is of no consequence. The parts are promptly freed as soon as movement of a support begins. Since this initial movement includes the upward vector, against gravity, even a very sudden freeing of the pivots would not result in accelerating movement of the support. Consequently there is no danger of too forcibly swinging the supports against each other or against the cabinet end wall even when the pivots are quite solidly frozen.

It will be understood that other mounting means may be employed provided the described arcuate movement of the supports be retained.

The supports themselves may take any con venient form. I have illustrated a sort of skeleton tray 8 of generally rectangular plan having upturned end walls l 5 spaced apart sumciently to accommodate a can, preferably rather snugly but without binding. From the floor of the support a 'downturned side flange it provides a desirable stiffening element and aifords a convenient connection for the legs 9, which may be pin connected to the flange l6 and-to the flange l3. Preferably four legs are used for each support, one at each corner.

Bumper buttons or the like ll of rubber or its equivalent may be mounted to project slightly from the outer surfaces of the support end walls ill to cushion the impact of the supports against each other and against the cabinet end wall.

Referring again to the false bottom l2, it will be obvious that even when the supports are mounted by means of the legs 9, the member l2 might be dispensed with. For example, the lower ends-of the legs might be pivoted directly to the cabinet side walls. The false bottom I2 is useful. however, in adapting the construction to installation in already built cabinets, in which it would be diflicult, dangerous orimpossible to perforate the cabinet walls to receive the pivot pins. The false bottom l2 may be provided in sections, one for each support and its appendant four legs, which sections would be coupled togetherat their ends or their ends would be abutted to prevent telescoping. I prefer, however, to form the false bottom l2 as a single integral unit for all the supports and to make such unit long enough for its ends to abut the cabinet and walls. In this way a very solid construction is obtained, endwise movement of the member l2 being rendered impossible. Sidewise movement is prevented by making the member 12 as wide as the cabinet interior, in' the case of a single line cabinet like that illustrated, or by making multiple members abut along theirsides and together occupy the whole width of a multiple line cabinet.

In order to get into an already built cabinet a flanged, and consequently stiff, false bottom l2 which is equal to the length of the cabinet, I pro-.

vide notches or breaks l8 in the flanges l3, or,

equivalently, the flanges may take the form of serted into the cabinet through an end opening 2 and transversely curved or bent at the notches or between the separated small ears as shown in Fig. 6 until it is wholly within the cabinet. It is then turned on its side, with the web M in a vertical plane, and is easily restored to plane, flat condition by a workman reaching in through any of the openings 2 with suitable hand tools. Once straightened out, it is laid flat on the cabinet floor, and each assembly of support and legs is mounted on it. Studs and cotter pins are conveniently used to connect the lower ends of the legs to the side flanges l3 of the member l2.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown protectors or shields I 9 which may be mounted inwardly of and closely adjacent the legs to protect loose goods in the lower zone of the cabinet from injury by the moving legs. the same studs or pins which pivot the legs to the flanges l3.

In illustrating the invention hereinabove I have shown it embodied in a cabinet having a single row of can compartments. In such a cabinet the supports swing longitudinally. It is obvious that the invention might just as well be embodied in a cabinet having plural rows of can compartments set side by side, in which case the supports might be arranged to swing transversely from one row to another.

The foregoing explanation of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been given by way of exemplification and not limitation. The invention is capable of being embodied in other and The shields is may be mounted on further modified forms and it is to be understood that such modifications, to the extent that they I incorporate the broad principles of the invention as defined by. the appended claims. are to be deemed within the scope and purview thereof.

I claim:

1. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a plurality of sup ports for the upper tier, and means mounting said supports for swinging movement through an arcuate path entirely within the cabinet, the 1 number of said supports being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a. receptacle in the lower tier.

- 2. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a plurality of supports for the upper tier, and legs pivoted in the cabinet and mounting said supports for swinging movement entrely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, the number of said supports -being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a receptacle in the lower tier.

. 3. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a plurality of supports for the upper tier, and generally upstanding legs pivoted in the lower part of the cabinet having their upper portions pivoted to the supports whereby the supports are mounted for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, the number of said supports being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a receptacle in the lower tier.

4. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange rela-' tion with the cabinet interior, supports for the upper tier provided in a number equal to one less than the capacity of the tier whereby an area of the lower tier equal to the area of. a support is exposed, and means for selectively exposing other areas of the lower tier comprising means mounting each of the supports for movement from its normal position of rest through an arcuate path entirely within the cabinet including an initial upward component and a final downward component.

- 5. A cold storage cabinetfor ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior,. a support for an upper receptacle, and means mounting said support for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path at opposite ends of which the support is stopped against further movement and at an intermediate point of which the support is relatively elevated and tends to fall by gravity toward said ends, whereby the support may be manually moved on said mounting means selectively to expose areas of the bottom of the cabinet adapted to be occupied by lower receptacles.

6. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and ,bottom adapted to contain superposed receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a support for an upper receptacle, means mounting said support for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path including an intermediate high point from which the support tends to fall by gravity and including terminal low points to which the support tends to gravitate, and means engageable by the support at said terminal low points stopping the support against further movement, whereby the support may be manually moved on said mounting means from one terminal low point to another selectively to expose areas of the bottom of the cabinet adapted to be occupied by lower receptacles.

'7. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchangerelation with the cabinet interior, a support for an upper receptacle, generally upstanding legs pivoted in the lower part of the cabinet having their upper portions pivof movement of said legs.

8. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a support for an upper receptacle, generally upstanding legs-adjacent the 1 sides of the cabinet, having their lower'portions pivotally mounted in the cabinet and having their upper portions pivoted to the support whereby the support is mounted for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, whereby the support may be manually moved on said legs from one terminal low point to another selectively to expose areas of the bottom of the cabinet adapted to be occupied by lower receptacles, and shielding means between said legs and the interior of the cabinet for keeping goods in the cabinet from the path of movement of said legs. 9. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a plurality of supports for the upper tier, a member in the bottom of the cabinet, and generally upstanding legs having their lower ends pivoted to'said member and their upper ends pivoted to said supports whereby the supports are mounted for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, the number of said supports being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a receptacle in the lower tier. 7

10. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and ,the like comprising an insulated box having an open top and permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top of the cabinet, cooling means in heat exchange relation with the cabinet interior, a plurality of supports for the upper tier, a member in the bottom of the cabinet having upturned side flanges and generally upstanding legs having their lower ends pivoted to said flanges and their upper ends pivoted to said supports whereby the supports are mounted for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, the number of said supports being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a receptacle in the lower tier.

11. A cold storage cabinet for ice cream and I the like comprising an insulated box having a top permanently fixed in place provided with plural openings and having permanently closed sides, ends and bottom adapted to contain superposed horizontal tiers of receptacles, closure means for the top openings, cooling means in heat exchange relation with thecabinet interior, a plurality of supports for the upper tier, a member in the bottom of the cabinet having upturned side flanges, and generally upstanding legs having their lower ends pivoted to said flanges and their upper .ends pivoted to said supports whereby the supports are mounted for swinging movement entirely within the cabinet through an arcuate path having terminal low points and an intermediate relatively high point, the number of said supports being one less than the capacity of the tier to permit selective movement of a support to expose a receptacle in the lower tier, and a portion of each'side flange of the memberbeing removed whereby the member may be temporarily bent for insertion into the cabinet through one of the top openings of the cabinet.

12. In combination with a relatively long cold storage cabinet provided with a top having a relatively small opening, a false bottom comprising a plate-like member substantially as long as the cabinet interior, and upturned side flanges on the member adapted to mount receptacle-supporting means in the cabinet, each of said flanges being broken at intervals whereby the member may be temporarily bent for insertion through said topopening.

13. In combination with a relatively long cold storage cabinet provided with a top having a relatively small opening, a false bottom comprising a plate-like "member substantially as long as the cabinet interior, and upturned side flanges on the member adapted to mount receptaclesupporting means in the cabinet, each of said flanges being notched at intervals and the member being scored between opposite notches whereby the member may be temporarily bent along the scoring for insertion through said top opening.

14. In combination with a cold storage cabinet provided with a top having a relatively small opening, a false bottom comprising a plate-like member substantially as long as one dimension of the cabinet interior, and substantially right angular side flanges on the member adapted to mount receptacle-supporting means in the cabinet, each of said flanges being broken at intervals whereby the member may be temporarily bent for insertion through said top opening.

15. In combination with a cold storage cabinet provided with a top having a relatively small opening, a false bottom comprising a plate-like member substantially as long as one dimension of the cabinet interior, and substantially right angular side flanges on the member adapted to mount receptacle-supporting means in the cab-- inet, each of said flanges being notched at intervals and the member being scored between opposite notches whereby the member may be temporarily bent along the scoring for insertion through said top opening.

WILLIAM P. CRISMAN. 

